EDITORIAL: Another Day, Another Nemtsov Arrest

Once again last Tuesday, the former first deputy prime minister of Russia was arrested and accused of “provocation” by the Putin Kremlin for daring to challenge its authority.

Before we discuss the latest incidence of jaw-dropping barbarism from the Putin Kremlin, though, let’s take a moment to reflect on amazing photograph shown above, an image captured by a Novaya Gazetaphotographer at the scene of the crime. It ought to strike sheer terror into the hearts of the loathsome reptiles within the Moscow Kremlin.

In the photo, we see an ordinary Russian citizen. Not a long-haired radical youth, but a working man, well-dressed and healthy, who was willing to face arrest to stand up for his civil rights and liberties. And look at the expression on his face! It’s almost jaunty, casual bemusement, laughing at the abhorrent conduct of the Putin Gestapo, speaks volumes about how the Putin regime is rapidly losing all crediblity, not just abroad but at home as well. It reminds us of the way Boris Nemtsov brilliantly defied the crazed Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky when Nemtsov first came to power, exposing Zhirinovsky as a clownish buffoon.

The countenance of this confident, intelligent ordinary Russian seems to shout: “Arrest me again, I dare you. It’s kind of fun watching you gorillas humiliate yourselves. I’ll be back for more.”

The occasion at hand was the regular public demonstration in support of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, guaranteeing freedom to assemble, on the 31st day of all months having that many days.

Nemtsov was not even participating in the demonstration, he was merely standing at the outskirts handing out copies of his most recent scholarly analysis of the Putin regime’s policy failures. And for that “crime,” the former first deputy prime minister of Russia was grabbed by OMON goons, roughed up and tossed into prison. This is what Russia has become.

But this time, representatives of the European Union were present to witness the atrocities up close and personal and they did not hesitate to condemn what they saw in the international press.

And this time, Putin’s big, nasty mouth finally got him in serious trouble. World newswires were alight with his open proclamation that Russian police would crack the skulls of anyone who dared to protest without Kremlin permission, regardless of whether they were disobeying police officers at the time.

And this time, though the Obama administration continued its craven silence the Republicans on Capitol Hill took notice. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated bluntly: “Putin’s overt and public threat to beat democracy protestors has taken Russia’s ongoing assault against human rights and democratic rights to a whole new, disturbing level [and Russia] must be held accountable for its crackdown on all forms of dissent — including the murders of journalists. Responsible nations cannot overlook Russia’s downward spiral towards tyranny and oppression, and must deny Russia membership in the World Trade Organization and all of the other perks which it does not deserve.”

At last, the tyrannical maniac known as Putin is stripped naked before the eyes of the world. If only the cowardly, craven President of the United States were paying attention! But even with Barack Obama as an ally in this violence, Putin’s days are numbered, just as were the days of Leonid Brezhnev. It is only a matter of time before Russia once again collapses.

Well, that man in the picture on top, does not look very healthy to me. He looks a little too ruddy faced and apoplectic. Perhaps, it’s the stress of being arrested. Who wouldn’t turn red under such circumstances?

I agree with Wal that his “members only” jacket is not a good evidence of being well dressed, but I guess you are right, it may be by Moscow standards

Militiamen. Kremlin gang. They are used to comfort very well while robbing nation and committing genocide to people for decades. How can one say they aren’t healthy. Need to be strong for organized slaughter.

1) Organization of gambling houses is a criminal offence in Russia (imagine that guy opens a casino in New York, or in London -guess cops would come in numbers, and kill a couple of “suspects” there).
2) Judging by the video I post below, being physically attractive woman is a criminal offence in the US, right?

So, speaking of pigs, how would you characterise these US police officers? What are they engaged in? Serving, or protecting? Or both?

Did you mention, all these videos come from different cities of the US, and there are thousands of the like. Listening to this woman criying, do you still feel your opinion of the US police is, er, adequate?

Another month, another try at freedom of assembly. Article 31 of the Constitution guarantees that right, but for more than a year, Moscow authorities have refused to grant permission for a protest on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad, a historic meeting place. On Aug. 16, city authorities announced a closing of the square for what they said will be construction of an underground parking garage.

But protesters showed up on the afternoon of Aug. 31 ― where they were met by hundreds of police officers, riot police and soldiers. About 100 people were arrested and whisked away in police vehicles.

Though some people were detained after shoving against the police cordons, others were detained because they were holding “31” signs, shouting or standing next to the square. Moscow Times staff photographer Igor Tabakov captured images of the afternoon, which can be viewed here.

Dmitry, you are either a great cynic or you simply don’t understand what you’re saying.

London video clearly shows that policemen had loosen their dogs ONLY after two men approached them holding / showing something. And that dog actually just snatched guy’s jacket. Those two young men hadn’t even been arrested! British are professionals.

In Tbilisi video police uses water jets and gas. So what? Anyone kicked in face? Broken bones? Continuously beamed in head in animal barbaric haze? Crowd was clearly aggressive, not even holding banners and plain screaming at police. Yet they were treated much better comparing to what they could’ve done to police if they were allowed closer.

LAPD kills unarmed motorist — this is clearly a SPAM. Do you realize a difference between PEACEFUL protest and arrest of a criminal? And in Moscow it actually wasn’t even a protest. People merely gathered together. And every time the more peaceful the protest is, the more aggressive and drunk are the actions of so-called russian milita.

And what about russian militia actually? Video uploaded by Robert gives us a little understanding of what it is. One pig commands a young guy like he is a slave. Another pig holds a loaded gun pointing at him even though the guy CLEARLY commits NO ANGER AT ALL. After that the first pig heavily kicks guy in a liver just for fun. “And now say you love OMON!” — says a man holding the camera.

You call it “poor boy just lost conscience”? Just? It’s “just” an occasion being hit like that in Russia by OMON? What if it was your own son?

You commentary clearly shows how deep you disrespect your own people and treat them like a biomass.

Garnet, don’t make these third-grader claims about biomass and respect. Get real.

Do you really think being shot by police is better than being beaten by police?

The Russian police:

1) During non-sanctioned meetings: just as the US police has every right to use violent methods of fighting protestors when they disobey the law. I.e. gas, water cannons, dogs and special weapons, like shocking devices.

2) Russian police never uses these methods. Unlike the US, or British police.

3) Does not kill a suspect when fails to arrest him/ her. This, I believe, is one of the most important differences between the police in the US and Russia. Simple: here a teenager that was dumb enough to steal and run on a bike from a police car, won’t be dead in two minutes. Driven over by this very police car.

Do you understand? Would – not – be – dead.

A police that lets it’s dogs loose on you for not obeying orders is WORSE than a police that locks you in a bus, drives you to the police station 500 meters away and makes you pay a fine of 500 Roubles (USD 15) for not obeying orders.

The police that kills suspects for not stopping is WORSE that the police that beats suspects after catching them.

You may call me cynic, disrespectful of the personal dignity, whatever.

But I’ll tell you one thing: this girl would be much more happy if only the US police officer that broke into their house that night would only beat her dead, torture him, rob him, damn, tear off all limbs of him, whatever, but not just kill him right away.

@Here is a “short” list of Russian police brutality. Quite a few killings in there.

And don’t forget the murders of Caucasians are usually just ignored (or even awarded). Things like this:

On February 5, 2000, Russian forces engaged in widespread killing, arson, rape and looting in Aldi. The victims included an eighty-two-year-old woman, and a one-year-old-boy with his twenty-nine-year-old mother, who was eight months pregnant. The 46-page report criticizes the failure of the Russian authorities to undertake a credible investigation into the massacre and provide adequate protection for witnesses.

Human Rights Watch previously documented the events in Aldi in a February 23 press release, but the new report documents in detail the killings of forty of the victims, along with six cases of rape, and the widespread arson and looting of civilian homes.

“The Russian government has not undertaken any serious investigation of these horrendous crimes,” said Holly Cartner, Executive Director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. “President Clinton should put this at the head of his agenda with President Putin.”

Russian authorities have themselves admitted that special riot police units (in Russian, OMON) from the city of St. Petersburg and Riazan province were in Aldi on February 5.

Oh hi Bobby, so nice to see you here. I also want this post to be up for a while.

Here’s a vid of an attack on 1) a wedding ceremony in Afghanistan, scoring 27, and 2) journalists in Iraq (unknown score, but the Silver crosses and Bronze stars still awarded, I presume, like in My Lai?).

A drunk policeman in North Russia opened fire on a girl who upset him by singing a song in English, the Life.ru web-site reported on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old police lieutenant, whose name was reported as Oleg N. was sitting near a children’s playground on May 9 – the day Russians celebrate victory in WWII. A young girl walked past him singing a song in English. The officer was reportedly so distressed by hearing the English language on a Russian national holiday that he pulled a pistol, loaded with rubber bullets and opened fire. He also kicked the girl in the legs and insulted her verbally.

Luckily, no one was injured – the policeman missed or was deliberately shooting in the air, local prosecutors have said. Several men disarmed the man and delivered him to a police station.

That’s nothing. In the “Chechen Republic” they shoot at the women with no headscarves in the streets (one victim lost her eye in such attack). However “the authorities” (including Kadyrov personally) praise them for this and warnings to wear headscarves are posted in the public buildings -also threatening some “or else”-type measures for the stubborn women (as the paintball attacks are just warnings really).

They also shoot alleged prostitutes, but with very lethal ammunition. This is also publicily praised by Kadyrov (they “had to die”), and this is just one step below beheadings of alleged prostitutes using chainsaws by the Fedayeen Saddam thugs of Uday Saddam Hussein in the Baathist Iraq – maybe it’s a glimpse into the future of the “law enforcement” in Chechnya.

Once, late at the New Year night, they bring two men to a hospital. One of them has his arm deep in the as-s of the other…

Should I continue? Then take away babies from the screen:)

So – he has his arm deep in the as*s of another, so deep that only his elbow is visible. A young nurse on duty sees them, almost loses her conscience, and cries, and runs away to call for a doctor.

A doctor on duty comes, and he’s already had his two or three shots of champaigne for the New Year, and so he sees the two. He looks at them, and frowns, and honestly tries to understand what’s wrong, and what’s going on with them. Then suddenly a bright idea comes to his mind:

“Oh guys, you two should not have been brought here! They should have delivered you to a puppet theatre!”

Russian Police Apprehended in a Series of Widespread Crimes
May 15th, 2009

The surveillance video is chilling. A uniformed police officer, drunk and swaying, staggers through the aisles of a Moscow supermarket. Gun in hand, he calmly shoots, reloads and keeps shooting as terrified shoppers run for their lives. The late April rampage, which left three dead and seven injured, has shaken up the Moscow police force. The fact that its 32-year-old perpetrator, Major Denis Yevsyukov, was a high-ranking district police chief, has added to the public outrage.

For a system of law enforcement with an already lackluster reputation, the killing spree was a low point. But in the weeks since the shooting, a number of other high-profile crimes committed by police officers have shown that abuse of power is all too common. While officials are pledging to drastically change the training and education program provided for officers, many remain concerned that they are doing too little.

In May alone, the number of incidents involving the Russian militsiya and other agents of the law is shocking. On May 9th, one drunk senior lieutenant in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug opened fire on a children’s playground and assaulted a young girl. Allegedly, he was angered by the fact that she was singing a pop song in English during the Victory Day holiday. On May 1st, an officer in the Samara oblast shot and injured his wife, before taking his own life after the two had an argument.

There have also been three driving accidents where officers killed or injured pedestrians with their service automobiles. Another officer, drunk and high on drugs, caused a high-speed chase through Moscow after he refused to stop for an inspection. A fifth accident was caused by a drunk fire-fighter in the Arkhangelsk oblast, who hit two schoolgirls, one of whom died instantly, before he tried to flee the scene.

An officer in St. Petersburg has meanwhile been accused in a series of sexual assaults against teenage boys. Another St. Petersburg officer from the Russian anti-narcotics service was arrested in something that reads like a Hollywood script. A statement from the agency said the agent would confiscate drugs and money from trafficking suspects, then forcing them to work for him as drug-dealers.

Finally, an arms trafficker was arrested in Moscow for attempting to sell two handguns to undercover agents. It turns out the dealer used to work as a deputy police chief in the same office as Denis Yevsyukov. Investigators have denied a connection between the two.

As result of Yevsyukov’s killing spree, a number of high-placed officers have resigned from the Moscow police force.

Mikhail Sukhodolsky, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, admitted on May 14th there was a problem and pledged to reform the agency’s training program.

“Today we are forced to admit that the training provided to militsiya officers leaves much to be desired,” he told the Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview to be published Thursday. “Which is to say that people may not be prepared, both professionally and psychologically, for their mission of defending people.”

Human rights leader Lev Ponomarev, meanwhile, released a statement on May 14th expressing that in its current form, the militsiya had become a threat to society. To solve this problem, Ponomarev said the whole system must be changed.

Lev Levinson, an expert from the Institute for Human Rights, agreed. Reforming the professional training was a necessary step, he told the Kasparov.ru online newspaper. Yet changes would be useless if the system of accountability remained unchanged, he said.

On May 19th, Moscow’s rights organizations are planning to stage demonstration to call for a reform of the militsiya and its abuses of power. A corresponding permit request was filed with city officials on May 7th.

About one in five Russian citizens has met with police abuse (file photo) (epa)
March 29, 2007 (RFE/RL) — A study by Russian sociologists and human rights activists shows that ill-treatment and torture are endemic in the country’s detention facilities.

According to a new study published on March 28 by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Committee Against Torture, a Russian human rights organization, every 25th person in Russia is tortured, beaten, or harassed by law enforcement officials each year.

Shocking Findings

The report is based on opinion polls carried out in five Russian regions over the past three years. The report does not cover Chechnya, where Moscow’s military campaign against separatists has resulted in what rights groups describe as massive torture and abuse against civilians.

Yakov Gilinsky, a sociology professor with the Russian Academy of Sciences who supervised the study, disclosed the findings at a news conference in Moscow.

“So, has the adult population been subjected to torture within one year? The results — in St. Petersburg: 3.4 percent, in the Pskov region: 4.7 percent, in Nizhny Novgorod: 3.4 percent, in Komi: 4.6 percent, in Chita: 4.5 percent,” Gilinsky said. “The average result for all the regions is that 4.1 percent of people have personally been subjected to torture, or illegal physical or psychological violence.”

“According to information received from non-governmental sources, in comparison with 2004 when the figure was 6,654, the overall number of pre-trial detainees and convicts is 19,353 by November 2007. The official capacity of the prison system is 15,040.”

You currently have one of the highest prisoner rates in the world, though lower than in the US. In 4 years under Saakashvili you have tripled your prison population. And that is only pre-trial (officially innocent) detainees counted.

You don’t even have enough places in your prisons to accomodate all the people you throw there.

Yes well Dima dumbass, this is a result of cracking down on corruption, and introducing the rule of law, something an idiot like yourself would be incapable of understanding as you live in the most corrupt state on earth.

So Georgia has 198 prisoners per 100,000 people, and Russia has 606 prisoners per 100,000, and according to some sorces it is even worse for Russia:

The judiciary is not independent, is often subject to manipulation by political authorities, and is plagued by large case backlogs and trial delays. Lengthy pretrial detention remains a serious problem. Russia has one of the highest prison population rates in the world, at 628 per 100,000. There are credible reports of beating and torture of inmates and detainees by law enforcement and correctional officials, and brutality perpetrated by the prisoners themselves, some of whom are informally granted authority to enforce order within the prisons. Prison conditions fall well below international standards and extreme overcrowding is common. In 2001, President Putin ordered a moratorium on the death penalty. There are reports that the Russian Government might still be violating promises it made upon entering the European Council, especially in terms of prison control and conditions. A 2008 law established an independent association of prison monitors, which began work in 2009. The association had mixed results in its work, with some prison officials cooperating, and others obstructing its work. A draft proposal circulated in June 2010 would water down the association’s work, but remained under discussion as of mid-June.

Human Rights
Russia’s human rights record remains uneven and poor in some areas. Despite significant improvements in conditions following the end of the Soviet Union, problem areas remain. In particular, the Russian Government’s policy in the North Caucasus has been a cause for international concern. Although the government has recognized the legitimacy of international human rights standards, the institutionalization of procedures to safeguard these rights has lagged. There are, however, some indications that the law is becoming an increasingly important tool for those seeking to protect human rights.

The judiciary is not independent, is often subject to manipulation by political authorities, and is plagued by large case backlogs and trial delays. Lengthy pretrial detention remains a serious problem. Russia has one of the highest prison population rates in the world, at 628 per 100,000. There are credible reports of beating and torture of inmates and detainees by law enforcement and correctional officials, and brutality perpetrated by the prisoners themselves, some of whom are informally granted authority to enforce order within the prisons. Prison conditions fall well below international standards and extreme overcrowding is common. In 2001, President Putin ordered a moratorium on the death penalty. There are reports that the Russian Government might still be violating promises it made upon entering the European Council, especially in terms of prison control and conditions. A 2008 law established an independent association of prison monitors, which began work in 2009. The association had mixed results in its work, with some prison officials cooperating, and others obstructing its work. A draft proposal circulated in June 2010 would water down the association’s work, but remained under discussion as of mid-June.

From all over Russia are also reports of forced full-body shaves, water torture that simulates drowning and mouldy, maggoty prison food.
Efforts to rectify these ills, observers say, are often thwarted by an elaborate system in which the guilty parties cover for each other, give bribes, have the power to blackmail and pass off beatings as acts of self-defense against violent inmates.
About 400 people in Russia died in 2009 during pretrial detention alone, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Aleksandr Reimer, conceded to the radio station Ekho Moskvy.
After high-profile tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died under mysterious circumstances during pretrial detention in November, Medvedev sacked 20 top prison officials. ‘Medvedev aims to abolish the gulag,’ the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper headlined at the end of December.
‘Basically nothing has changed in our prisons since Stalin’s time,’ Mikhail Barshchevsky, the government’s representative to the Constitutional Court, told the newspaper. He said he was convinced that Medvedev wanted to go down in history by humanizing Russia’s prison system in line with European standards.
Gleb Pavlovsky, a political consultant who advises the Kremlin, said prison reforms were Medvedev’s most important initiative as president. Without ‘dismantling the politicized penal system,’ he said, Medvedev’s call to modernize Russia would go nowhere.

Yet the vast majority of Russian prisoners — 724,000 out of a total prison population of 862,000 — still live in freestanding barracks, rough-hewn, low-slung buildings of wood or brick encircled by barbed wire, usually in a remote place. Low-cost and high-volume, they are modest upgrades of the camps of the 1930s to 1950s and hold the second largest per capita inmate population in the world, trailing only the United States.

WINDOW ON EURASIA
Paul Goble
12 December 2009
Florence, December 12 – Although many Moscow media outlets have been worrying about the impact of the impending release of a large number of violent criminals from the 1990s, Russia’s prison population has surged by 140,000 over the last three years alone and now again totals more than 900,000.

That has resulted in serious overcrowding, more frequent acts of violence by both prisoners and guards, and new discussions by experts and politicians of the possibility of using other forms of punishment, according to a report by the “New Region” news agency.

In many Russian prisons as a result, inmates now sleep in three-level bunks, much as they did in Stalin’s time. Moreover, there are not enough guards, and many of them, veterans of fighting in Chechnya, are inclined to use violence, especially against Chechen nationals. And as a result, Russian penal institutions do almost nothing to rehabilitate inmates.

Not surprisingly and especially given the current financial crisis, ever more officials are exploring ways to reduce the prison population. Last week, Russian justice minister Aleksandr Konovalov called for imposing fines rather than prison sentences for many crimes, an idea that President Dmitry Medvedev supports and the Duma’s security committee is now considering.

Russians tend to lie about their prison population or any other statistic that suits them.

Of course. How would it be related to the law enforcement in the United States?

@I linked to videos made in peace time in Ottawa, London, Tbilisi, and several US cities.

Yeah. Show me how a group of special policemen from Glasgow (for example) methodically murder scores of people at point-blank range in some Northern Ireland village while looting and raping, following months of artillery barrages, if you think it’s normal “not in peace time” (btw, Russia never declared war in Chechnya, nor even a state of emergency – nothing, so officially it was a “peace time” anyway).

Bobby, you launch a man to space, I’ll remember the name of your country in English. Right now I only need it when talking to you, and that’s too rare an occasion to keep it in mind.

So, back to the point, killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, a handful in a time, is now ok? I mean, if it’s well abroad, and done in a democratic way, isn’t it?

Or, perhaps we should check the casualties numbers among Chechen civilians and Iraqi civilians??

Oh, I see, we should only compare Chicago and Belfast to Grozny now? Ok, then. Poor Chicago, poor Belfast, I’d say, if they are to be compared to the city where the was still a war 5 years ago.

Perhaps include Croatia with it’s exodus of 500 000 Serbs from Respublika Srpska? No, you wouldn’t like it, your country benefited well from the collapse of Yugoslavia, right? It was like a Chezh Slavic unity with Kosovo Albanians, huh?

Then let’s just compare all named areas during the times (Grozny, Glasgow, Chicago) when there was a military conflict in each of these areas. And see where native people still exist in the same number.

(Surprise!) Chechens and Scotts still there, and more of them, but Chicago is filled by somewhat-not-native Americans!

But do you really want me to post several documents of how exactly did the English fight the rebellion in Norther Ireland? Or how comes there were less people in India in 1950 than in 1850? Of how exactly the new Americans cleared Chicago area of native Americans?

Don’t get yourself trapped with your own freaked ideas, man.

Just as a wonder kick that may make you think (though wouldn’t, I know): did these people receive any compensation?

I thought tens of thousands US sites mentioning Chezh Repblic were ok…

So you are not Chezh, really?

Perhaps you should do something to make people remember how to spell you right?

Like, I mean, do something bright? Write a new book? (I mean, Gashek, Seifert – once in a century, and under occupation?) An opera? (Dvorak? and in this century?) Send a man to space? (:D) Create a mobile operator? (?) Build a dam? (?) Anything?

Here’s what The Prague Journal of Central European Affairs has to say about Chezh Republic:

“If one were to ask a layperson what the Chezh Republic has given ihe world, most likely the answer would be beer”.

Somewhat arguable (I can point about a hundred of states, and 2-3 continents that would disagree with Chezh Rep. on this), but definitely quite a stupid and somewhat humiliating answer.

@1) During non-sanctioned meetings: just as the US police has every right to use violent methods of fighting protestors when they disobey the law. I.e. gas, water cannons, dogs and special weapons, like shocking devices. 2) Russian police never uses these methods. Unlike the US, or British police.

Yes. They would rather use full-automatic fire from their assault rifles, like in this official promotional video of their “riot control” skills (Moscow OMON press event in 2007):

Pohl wrote: “In 2007 I began planning a return trip, and in my research I quickly realized that Russia had hardly engaged in self-reflection either. I scoured the internet but found mostly self-serving autobiographies and wild-eyed conspiracy theories. It was as though the nation had repressed its memories of the people, mostly Russian citizens, who were murdered in the streets.”

But then you wrote: “LOL”. And this, this is incredible. I could understand you don’tcare when citiziens of Chechnya (including thousands of ethnic Russians, mostly pensioners) were murdered, because you are racist. But this? How could it be perceived as funny, even by an ultranationalist?

So thank you for providing me some valuabe insight into the mindset of a degenerate Nashist, but I think our little chat is over. I’d block you from posting if it was my blog, but it isn’t, so from now on I’ll just ignore you personally.

You don’t even understand who fights whom there on the video. What for, and why. You just found a cute video that you think can prove your point.

So, would it be rude to ask you to shut up with all your world-famous deep Western understanding of exotic cultures?

Yes, more than 170 people were killed on the streets of Moscow during those days in 1993. And yes, you have no idea what fight it was on the tape.

And then, of course you are laughable for calling a special detachement of the Interior Troops a “police”. Interior Troops and police are two different branches in the Interior ministry. There are much less differences between the regular Army and the National Guard in the US, to make you understand.

Do you understand the difference between a peaceful rally and a violent protest? I.e., when people demand a right to peacefully assemble to air their grievances vs. when violent anarchists throw Molotov cocktails?

Try peacefully blocking Westway or W23rd without permission and wait for the police dogs to arrive and explain the difference between you and a violent anarchist.

Here’s a quote for the beginners:

“It is important that you know your rights regarding the use of space, whether you are organizing a demonstration on a college campus or along a public street. Many towns require permits for demonstrations, especially if you will be using amplified sound such as bullhorns. (what do you think, do they Discontent use them, or not?) Permits are almost always required for marches since they may disrupt traffic (what do you think, do they march in central districts, or not?). Talk to the campus or community police about your demonstration and determine what permits you need (what do you think, would they give you a permission to block the Westway for half a day on Tuesday?).”

So ok, your famous Georgian engineers rule – they make much better world famous planes, plants and power stations:))))

And now, tens of thousands of famous Georgian engineers move to Europe with their families each year, Europe would also have a chance to drink from this well of sacred knowledge:))

As to the links – there were 4 more of them, from different sources (including the Other Russia), all stated the opposition was proposed different alternative central locations in Moscow since it’s been a year, and never agreed.

Sad one of our dear LRs deleted my post, but anyway, you’ll find if you google for it.

Dimitry; as long as protesters follow protocol, you don’t see police gang-banging protestors. One thing you must remember about many/most of these g20/wto/etc… meetings which have protestors, is that there are more often than not “professional” protestors who are there to incite violence or at least create a confrontation with the authorities for media purposes. Such things as punching police horses, dropping bricks from overhead passes onto the road (and possibly passing vehicles), breaking store windows, inciting a niave crowd to physically challenge the police. If these “professionals” get busted they will usually have someone able to get them out of jail—usually which ever organization is paying their way. Any one else, like the students in the last g20 video, are probably going to have to call mom and dad. Also, protestors have many more avenues by which to claim grievences against police. In russia, it does not look like anyone is inciting anyone to violence except Vladimir Putin against his own people. Those arrested, how many avenues within the law do they have? or will their release entail paying off some official or judge.

If Vladimir Putin is as great and powerful as he thinks he is; then he should not mind protestors. Unfortunately, his actions and rhetoric show him to be a very weak leader who can only rely upon force to get his way/stay in power. True power from a leader comes from being able to convince others that your ideas are the ones to follow, not busting in someone’s skull.

Barb, do you believe there is no violation of protocol in blocking one of Moscow’s main roads on working day? Every month after month, repeatedly?

Did you ever asked yourself if these people are proposed an alternative place/ route (within the city center) instead of Tverskaya/ Mayakovskaya street? They are. Vasilyevsky spusk – just next to Kremlin. Trubnaya ploschad, Chistiye Prudy – big squares right next to central metro stations. The thing is there is no major roads there.

Ask yourself:

What is the reason why 2 000 – 3 000 “opposition supporters” (in the city of 14 000 000) must gather around the biggest 8-10-rows highway in the center of the city?

Why they can not switch to any of the places that are proposed to them, and where it is absolutely guaranteed their march would not be dispersed by police?

@What is the reason why 2 000 – 3 000 “opposition supporters” (in the city of 14 000 000) must gather around the biggest 8-10-rows highway in the center of the city?

And what is the reason why 1 Putin (in the city of 14 000 000) must routinely stop all traffic in said highways in the center of the city just for himself while driving around – and somehow, always succeeds?

The demostrators, organized by Coalition of Participants of the Orange Revolution (COPOR), a non-governmental organization, surrounded the Russian embasy to show support for Russian civil activists, who traditionally gather on Victory Square in Moscow on the 31st day of every month to defend their right to freedom of assembly.

Why are all so worried?
This is a traditional Russian fun! Comedy opposition (Unfortunately no one in Russia) came to the square in order to provoke police for vigorous action. They do not want to meet, in accordance with the law elsewhere. They need only Triumph Square, although they know that there will not be collected permission. I repeat that they need this only that Square and no other. Police in compliance with the law has taken steps, and oppositions shouting that violate their rights. As a result, the opposition and the police are very very happy – their goals are met.

1. Authorities would not allow opposition at any significant place in Moscow. May it be Triumph Square or not. Opposition clearly understands this fact and ends up on Triumph Square just because it’s the most notable place amongst prohibited (i.e. all in radius of several miles counting from Kremlin walls + all which Kremlin gang can foresee as significant).

2. Authorities are already aware of the fact that future demonstrations would took place on Triumph Square on 31 day of month and they continue to be peaceful despite government actions. Yet authorities continue to increase amount of cruelty exposing themselves as predecessors of apes.

3. Kicking peaceful people whoever they are can never be fun, comedy or any stuff like that.

“Due to the ongoing reconstruction of Mayakovskaya square, Moscow local authorities proposed three alternative locations to stage the march, but the opposition leaders denied.”

Ironically, each of the three locations is closer to the center of the city than Mayakovskaya (use Google maps to check). Alternative location Bolotnaya square, for example, is right next to Kremlin. But, of course, there are no major roads (such as Sadovoye Koltso and Tverskaya at Mayakovskaya square) around these places. And, of course, there the march would not be dispersed by police.

September 02, 2010
Armed policemen, including masked Special Forces officers, have raided the Moscow office of the “The New Times,” one of Russia’s few opposition-minded media outlets.

During the raid, on September 2, Russian Police Colonel Stanislav Pashkovsky pressed the magazine’s editor in chief, Yevgenia Albats, to hand over recordings of interviews and other material used in a February report on alleged abuse of power by the country’s feared OMON riot police.

After policemen entered the office, “New Times” journalists alerted several media organizations, including RFE/RL’s Russian Service, whose correspondent arrived in time to record Pashkovsky speaking.

On the recording, Pashkovsky is heard saying, “We suggest that you voluntarily — voluntarily — give us the recordings of your interviews with the present and former OMON staff that took place prior to the publication of the article. If you refuse to do so, we will put this in writing now.”

The magazine posted videos of the raid on its website.

‘Slaves of OMON’

The article in question, entitled “Slaves of OMON,” cited police sources who alleged that riot police have been given permission to commit abuses when breaking up protests.

“It was an article about the violations taking place inside Moscow’s OMON — how they are given instructions on how to break up Marches of Dissent, how it is explained to them that supporters of the Russian opposition are the enemies of Russia,” Albats said.

The report also alleged that members of the riot police collect protection money from prostitutes, use Central Asian migrants as slave labor, and provide security for businesses and private homes for extra cash.

Albats, who is a vocal critic of the Kremlin, said today’s raid was part of an investigation into whether current and former officers interviewed for the article were guilty of slander.

Police previously searched the magazine’s office in April. That action was condemned as illegal by the media rights group Reporters Without Borders.

Pashkovsky told reporters who arrived on the scene today, “There are no secrets here, everything is transparent.”

Protesters Beware

Albats refused to hand over the recordings, citing legislation that protects journalists’ sources.

“I can tell you that one of the sources has revealed his name while the second source, who is still an OMON member, gave us an interview on terms of confidentiality and repeated several times he did not want his name to be revealed because it would put his life in danger,” she told reporters.

Albats later said she did hand over a 43-page interview transcript, but refused to divulge the names of any confidential sources or provide any audio or video recordings that could help police identify them.

Moscow’s 2,000-strong OMON force has been criticized by the European Union and Russian rights groups for using disproportionate force to break up opposition protests.

On August 31, police in Moscow and St. Petersburg detained at least 130 protestors, including opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Eduard Limonov.

Laima Andrikiene, the deputy chairperson of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights, attended the Moscow protest and later told RFE/RL’s Russian Service that she was shocked by the number and behavior of police officers on the scene.

A day earlier, in an interview published by Russia’s daily “Kommersant” newspaper, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said protesters who fail to obtain permission from local authorities for public demonstrations “will get a cudgel to the head.”

Albats said she expects the police to return in the future, and called the investigation into the magazine’s sources an attempt to intimidate independent media.

For Russia’s liberal community has long been firmly established term – demshiza (democratic schizophrenia). This is not an insult or a desire to somehow despised those who decided that he is the Democratic messiah in Russia. That being said, the fact that almost medical. It is based on objective observations of the behavior of liberals and their attitude to the things of the same order only in a different time.

We will not consider the symptoms of the international scale, when the troops of pretty Russian liberals countries almost under their applause bombing hospitals, and schools. Here, in their opinion, no human rights violations and lamenting, in fact, nothing more. They will lead you to dozens of reasons that children especially, to promote crawling under the bombs, but in the fact of the military operation there is nothing wrong.
As there is nothing wrong, including human rights abuses when the United States – and for liberals it is a well-known pattern of behavior on the international scene – called for the exclusion of another hostile regime preparing the blockade or the bombing of the “dictatorship”, together with the population.
In this case, you liberals would argue that people are supporting a dictator, deserves such a cruel attitude towards themselves, let them say, suffers.
And, as you know, the position of the liberals will be directly opposite, if Russia goes exactly as the U.S.. In such actions Russia immediately found all the sins of mankind. And if Russia does not respond to insults, as has happened before, and here the liberals will find that blamed the Russian authorities. At least in the example will be given the same U.S. or Israel, which are respected for the fact that they can adequately respond. That is why it is known that say so-called liberal society on any significant issue.

Last year, for example, after the 4 November and Moscow have been pillars of nationalists and those who decided to participate in the “right to march, known as the liberal media” Day of the fascist “, the Liberals issued a widely anticipated response – a tantrum.
Accusing the authorities of complicity with fascism, all have heard, that:
“This is – for shame! Such power – the threat to the survival of the country and city. The authority sanctioning marching Nazis and prohibiting anti-fascist march in the country that put 27 million lives in the fight against fascism, such power – our common shame. Such power must drive! “- Claimed the Liberals, coming in righteous anger. They have to define a problem and bring it to the attention of the international community even prepared its response to “right march, passing through Moscow with the anti-fascist slogans.

A year has passed. Authorities have banned so-called ‘Russian March’. It would seem that the liberals claim heard and satisfied. But instead of joy and appreciation received by the liberals, we’ll hear that the government has no right to prohibit such actions.

For example, a liberal known Eugene Markovna Albats, last year the loudest accused the authorities of complicity with the Nazis, wrote: “If the authorities to ban” Russian march -2006 “, it would be folly, № 1. For, firstly, the legal grounds for it in power there. And further, “humble petition to the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, signed by 28 representatives of human rights organizations and political parties of the democratic persuasion,” not to allow a demonstration or rally “Russian March 2006 in the case of unconstitutional and extremist posters and slogans,” it is meant to stupidity, № 2, and, incidentally, may compete with the first. ” Here’s how it was.
Should we be surprised that the same thesis promoted and Ilya Yashin, the youth “Yabloko”, and many other leaders, providing moral support to the radicals, has changed its relationship to the phenomenon on the opposite.
In this case, the proponents of “double standards” believe in their existence of any principles and beliefs, while wondering why they did not support the society, but on the contrary, still calls “demshizoy”?
But it’s not in terms, but the fact that the existence of any significant to the community of ideas and programs that liberals had long replaced the primitive behavioral scenario, devoting almost all its main activities – search regular cause for hysteria. And for this, as we know, no need of principles or beliefs, much less logic and common sense. The main thing – an excuse.

@For Russia’s liberal community has long been firmly established term – demshiza (democratic schizophrenia). This is not an insult or a desire to somehow despised those who decided that he is the Democratic messiah in Russia. That being said, the fact that almost medical.

Is this the same “democratic schizophrenia” the KGB treated the Soviet dissidents for in the psyhooshka prisons?

@As there is nothing wrong, including human rights abuses when the United States – and for liberals it is a well-known pattern of behavior on the international scene – called for the exclusion of another hostile regime preparing the blockade or the bombing of the “dictatorship”, together with the population.

At least they never bombed (and killed) THEIR OWN population in anyone’s living memory (a lot of time passed since the 1860s). This is another of these small improvements the Russians have yet to achieve. And dumping fascism would certainly help.

Attempts by the radical opposition disown connection with a criminal fugitive Boris Berezovsky has always entertained by analysts. For example, in 2006, Boris Abramovich so loudly supported the “marches of dissent” that the opposition dumbfounded and called his name not be used, as “agent provocateur”. Although the vast amount of information revealed about the regular visits by members of the opposition in London.

Some wanted the money “to the revolution.” Others asked to be connected to operation “destroy the regime” international resources, including the possibility of foreign special services.
The dates of visits and visitors name, as he once told Boris Abramovich, were recorded in the log of visitors to the London office.
In addition, Berezovsky called and the specific amounts that he humbly ask, for example, Garry Kasparov – something under 20 million U.S. dollars.
Well, Eduard Limonov, as has always been simple. He said he was ready to take money from Berezovsky. Limonov, by the way, while strongly inherited. The first of those who now walks with the Triumphal Limonov, making the very same “party of revenge”, which was mentioned more than once. Themselves as the opposition, very nervously called the arguments about this “party” as a non-existent phenomenon, they say all this nonsense. But on Aug. 31, 2010 put everything in its place – Party revanchists of 90 appeared before us in all its glory.

Demitry; my understanding of this protest is that it occurs only on months which have the 31st in it. Its locale, from again my understanding, is that there is much “historical” significance to it. (Not sure if I am using the correct term “historical”) Do you really believe Vladimir Putin would allow these protests to continue any where; even in a back woods tent gathering somewhere. You write that their “right’ to gather and protest would be absolutely gauranteed…are you positive about that statement?

Next “marches” (of dissenters), organised before the presidential elections, were staged in Moscow and St.Petersburg, and in St.Petersburg they had recieved the sanction for the march with the local authorities, but in Moscow they did not. As a result, in St.Petersburg the march went without any incidents, while in Moscow the participants were detained.

It was late one afternoon in January when a squad of plainclothes police officers arrived at the headquarters of a prominent environmental group here. They brushed past the staff with barely a word and instead set upon the computers before carting them away.

Across Russia, the security services have carried out dozens of similar raids against outspoken advocacy groups or opposition newspapers in recent years.

Mr. Kurt-Adzhiyev said he now realized that the authorities were not so much interested in convictions as in harassing opponents. Even if the inquiries are abandoned, they are debilitating when they require months to defend.

Maybe the most awful thing here is this horrible factory was not even a profitable business (at all). They’re now just being evil for the sake of being evil.

@Microsoft executives in Moscow and at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., asserted that they did not initiate the inquiries and that they took part in them only because they were required to do so under Russian law.

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